Living in Ukraine

Thinking of moving to Ukraine, around Odessa or somewhere along Black Sea coast. Others talk about money. So "question", how much money does a person need to live comfortable in Ukraine(per month in US$). Can Americans living in Ukraine purchase property? What kinds are availabe(apartments or houses)? How much does a house cost(middle class type)? Do many people in Ukraine speak english? Would I have difficult time communicating. Need answers and advice. Thanks

If you'd like to move to Odessa, I could help you with some info. The economy in that city is improving annually, there are more and more foreign investors each year.
You should visit a city before moving there though...
Most people speak Russian, but some will speak English with you for the sake of practicing their language skills.
You should be more specific on your situation, like do you have any relatives there, any job prospects..etc..

You need to do some heavy reconnaisance for this. The learning curve to figure out this part of the world continues to go straight up, never levels off.

More variables in play than you can imagine. People of Ukraine haven't been sitting around for 3000 years waiting for American carpetbaggers to come over and buy up the place.

I'm with you though. I am going to Sevastopol in October, for romance. But, I wish to look at real estate and property values. I think, and this could be ignorance, but on the Crimea I may be dealing with a lot of corruption just to do any business or real estate transactions.

Summer home on (near) the Black Sea would be nice though.

In Belarus, people who have started to achieve some level of affluence buy country homes to retreat to from their 3 room city flats. These "country homes" are nothing more than shacks on the farms from the Soviet era. Some don't have plumbing, but can be purchased for $3000.00

I know, I'm not much help, but, hey its 3 in the morning and I feel like drinking coffee and typing.

no, u shoudln't move there. i'm telling u, people are trying to move OUT, i was lucky enougt to immigrate to Canada. it's REALLY bad in there. offcourse there are good sides too, but it's a good place to VISIT, NOT to love in there. people are really nice thru. better get more info about this country and try to live there for a month without buying a place to live in.

The lady I have chosen to be my life mate is retired in Western Crimea on the Black Sea. She asks me time and again, "How soon can we visit?" I am studying her language (Russian and maybe Ukrainian) and she mine (English). Presently, neither of us knows the others language well enough to carry on a conversation. I visualize using a cross-referencing dictionary an awfully lot until I become versed in the local language.

If I would go to live there, I would be depending for income largely on my US Social Security Retirement Payments, which in the US would provide me with a living standard considerably better than poverty level. Her present income, although adequate, is not great. As often as I show concern about having enough income, she says, "We will be OK with income. We will live within our means. Let us just be sure that we come together because we love and respect each other.

I would depend considerably on her established nativity, her good intelligence, and her common sense counsel. I am a humble man in public attitude and material requirement. I possess a good knowledge of world economic and financial mechanisms. Possibly, she and I could arrange to have some sort of in-home-based internet consulting service visa vie United States and Ukraine international social, economic, financial relationships. This, though, is just sort of a dream or vision of mine, maybe not practical. I would not be satisfied sitting in a rocking chair or spending my time completly in leisure. I would want to be doing something productive and life nourishing with my time.

Being a respectable, honorable, constructive resident of the community would be really important to me. I have a great deal of love and respect for this beautiful lady and would endeavor to make her proud of me within the context of her society. I would need to act honorably to be comfortable within my own skin, also.

I believe that this land -- its geography, its history, its culture, its people, its present place in the natural order of nations would appeal to me at a deep intellectual, emotional, and spiritual level of my being.

Would stable, thinking, respectful, mature individuals, such as many of you are, believe that it would be within the realm of normalcy for me to consider emigrating from America to Ukraine?

...Or would it be more practical for the two of us to be together in the US, with me staying employed for several more years to enhance our financial circumstances? September 11 may have changed the political, social, and economic environment in America for the remainder of our lifetimes.

Perhaps the time has arrived that life would be more tranquil in Ukraine than in America???????

Patience and observation would lead you towards concrete Ukraine-America business ideas.

The economical problems for Ukraine stem from lacking capital investment. After gaining independence and freedom 10 years ago, no big swoop of Western investment has come in because of the instability there.

What is necessary is for small businessmen to carve out a niche there, and later the big dollars from the West will follow. In other words, business opportunity in Ukraine now is "the ground floor".

I am considering moving to the Ukraine too, and I have several questions regarding how I can establish my life there. I am currently living in the USA as a student in 11th year of school. I needed to know how I can go about getting a job that allows me to live normally. I also needed to know of any other problems that being American could cause moving to Europe or the Ukraine. Information on good schooling i could recieve would also help me alot